Cambridge High School and Te Awamutu College top Waikato Lacrosse League

Te Awamutu College attack Isabelle Vrensen marked by Shea Mikkelsen and Deanna Young from Cambridge High School in the 2020 Waikato High School League Girls Premier finals. Photo / Lou Kibby

Cambridge High School and Te Awamutu College have emerged as respective champions of the girls and boys divisions of the Waikato Lacrosse High School League for 2020.

In the Premier Girls Division, Cambridge High School produced an extraordinary turn around to win the finals on Saturday against Te Awamutu College at Tamahere Park.

Only one week earlier, the team had suffered a major loss to Te Awamutu by 14 goals to 8 in the last round-robin match of the season, a result that had earned Te Awamutu a place in the final.

But it was a different Cambridge team that turned up to play in the finals. Any thoughts that Te Awamutu had about a repeat performance must have been quickly put aside, as Cambridge stuck tenaciously to a revised game-plan to win the final by 11 goals to 6.

Cambridge coach Meg Jones commented, "It was a huge comeback. Obviously last week, Te Awamutu really fought to be in the final but our girls tried today. We've never seen them play like this all season. As coaches, Melissa [Gratwicke] and I are extremely proud.

"Last week was our first loss, and coming back from that we really had to pull ourselves together."

It is the sixth time that Cambridge High School have won the Waikato Lacrosse Girls High School League.

In the Premier Boys Division one, again Cambridge High School played off against Te Awamutu College at the Hamilton Inline Hockey Stadium. This time Te Awamutu emerged as convincing winners with a final score of 13 goals to 1, to become back-to-back Champions.

Te Awamutu captain Charlie Mason, now in his last year of college lacrosse, said, "We've had a good season overall. It was hard to come up against Cambridge, but it was really good to beat them in the final!"

When asked what he thought had helped the team to win, he said, "It is really our coach William [Chisholm].

"He puts the hard yards in and knows the game better than anyone so that we can develop over the season and come out and get a win like this in the final."

This year, the Waikato High School Lacrosse League was compressed into a shortened 9-week season after a delayed start because of Covid-19. The recent move to level 2 saw the league move from single central venues to multiple venues across the region to stay within guidelines.

With the high school lacrosse season complete, the focus now turns to the National U15s Lacrosse Tournament scheduled for October in Waikato.